What does the 'i' in iPod and DSi mean?

Unless you are a marketing 'guru' you will never actually guess

Now and then you have to stop and wonder what the names of those everyday gadgets we often claim to not be able to live without actually mean?

What, for example, does the 'i' stand for in the Apple iPod and the Nintendo DSi?

A quick office poll drew up blank faces and an even quicker Google search of 'what does the 'i' in iPod mean' suggests that it originally stood for 'internet' in the case of Apple's iMac brand.

However, an Apple rep told us that the i in iPod was just a brand name and not an acronmyn.

i and I see

With regards to the 'i' in DSi, our original guess was that it stood for something startlingly obvious such as 'interactive', with Nintendo keen to impress upon gamers the fact that its latest handheld is considerably more than a simple toy for gaming.

However, we were wrong. A Nintendo rep told us that the i in DSi means two things:

· The "i" is symbolic of the subject "I" and its personal aspect.

· Plus, the addition of two cameras gives the system its own "eye" on things.

"Nintendo hope that the Nintendo DSi becomes more than a game system and more of a personal tool to enrich our daily lives," the Nintendo rep added.

That's that cleared up then! And there we were thinking that Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto just liked the sound of 'iPods'.

Stay tuned for next week's fascinating and philological 'fun with words' update!